When and How Often to Post – Developing A Content Strategy, Step 4

We’ve thought long and hard about purpose and goals, now is the time to start the work towards coming up with a concrete content plan! We’re almost ready to start brainstorming ideas and drafting posts, but first let’s put together an editorial calendar. That is not nearly as scary as it sounds. In fact, it’s quite fun!

An editorial calendar is basically a plan of when exactly you’re going to post to your blog. You then fill in the relevant dates on the calendar with post title ideas. It’s simple, but in this lesson I’m going to help you decide how often to post and which days to post on, plus ask you some questions that’ll shape your content plan.

Coming Up With A Blogging Schedule That Works for You

Before we get going I want to say there is no absolute right and wrong when it comes to blogging frequency. It all depends on what works for your own personal schedule, and whether you want to tie posts around other promotions you’ve got going on (and you probably should do that).

Your schedule can even change from month to month – but by planning in advance, you’ll know if there are any important seasonal events to work around, and you’ll be able to plan content to boost your promotions.

You need to answer these two questions to create your basic blogging schedule:

How Often Do You Want to Post? Don’t plan to post to your blog daily if you won’t find the time or you find trouble coming up with enough content ideas. Instead, choose to blog a few times a week – maybe even just once per week – and stick to that schedule consistently.

When Will You Post? Once you know how many posts you want per week, choose regular days to post on. This will help you plan better in advance and work content creation into your schedule. If necessary, choose days where you don’t usually have too many other commitments! Or, if you have any stats from your blog to go by, choose days and times you know your blog is at its busiest.

Nothing is set in stone – your schedule can and will change, but most people work better when they have at least some kind of planned structure!

Additional Ways to Shape Your Schedule

Now you’ve answered the above two questions, you have your basic schedule. But here are three steps that’ll help you shape your schedule even more. I recommend going through these questions at least once every month…

Question 1: Will You Have Any Regular Content Features? It’s a lot easier to fill your editorial calendar if you can think of some regular content features. For example, you might hold weekly interviews with other people in your niche, or you could have a monthly roundup of some of the best posts you find in your niche. A feature can be absolutely anything, so note down any ideas even if you’re not sure. They could be good to come back to if you’re struggling to fill your blog with content.

Question 2: Which Holidays Are Important to Your Business? Go through a calendar and note down any holidays that might be even remotely relevant to your business (this can include fun, non-official holidays like National Chocolate Day – does this exist?!) You could do this for the entire year at once, or do it at the beginning of every month. Click here for a website I found that looks very useful for this purpose.

Question 3: Do You Have Any Specific Promotions Planned in Advance? Don’t forget to add your business promos and specials to your calendar. You might be running a big sale on your info products – this would be a good time to do a related, informational blog post that naturally links to your sale. Can you see now why planning in advance is so good for your business?

Your Homework…

First, list down the answers to all the questions above and make a decision as to which days/ how often you’re going to post.

Next, write down the important holidays and promos planned for at least the next month.

Remember, although this planning takes time now, it’ll actually save you time in the long run!

~Ruth

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4 thoughts on “When and How Often to Post – Developing A Content Strategy, Step 4”

I am really enjoying your training course. As you say, there is no right or wrong when it comes to publishing fresh posts. You have to create a plan, work with it and then evaluate how well it has worked for you. I am still working out how often I want/can post etc.

It’s good to know that other people go through the same sort of process 🙂

Victoria – I also think that our ideal schedule will change over time. Sometimes when we’re just starting 1-2 posts per week might be enough, but when blogs get more established the audience may demand more.

Another great post Ruth! I’m going through this process right now with a new niche site I am working. It’s a fairly aggressive writing strategy because there is a lot of marketing involved but just having a plan in place really makes a huge difference in less stress and actually finishing things on time.